122 THE AGE OF REASON
Catherine had been brought to Russia to be educated for
marriage with the heir to the throne, the Grand Duke Peter
of Holstein-Gottorp, nephew of the Empress Elizabeth. The
girl of fifteen showed amazing adaptability, learned Russian,
travelled in the country, accepted conversion, passionately,
sincerely, as it seemed, to the Orthodox religion; made herself
familiar with every side of Court life. She was left much alone,
and read widely, chiefly in French: Voltaire, Madame de
S6vign6, the novels of Mademoiselle de Scud6ry. The marriage
took place in 1745. Her husband, the Grand Duke Peter, was
tall and clumsy, nearly always drunk, with one tremendous
interest in life, soldiering, which to him meant simply drill
and uniforms. Catherine was attractive-looking, vigorous, a
lover of pleasure. Her intimate supper-parties and night excur-
sions into St Petersburg soon made her independent of her
boor of a husband, who became more and more given up to
drink, to pet monkeys, and, curiously, to playing the violin.
The Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, and Peter and Catherine
succeeded to the throne. Probably Peter was half mad. His
conduct was gross; but so was that of all the debauched Russian
Court, including the conduct of Catherine. She was un-
doubtedly a party to the coup d'fitat which put Peter into a
prison in 1762; a few days afterwards he came to a mysterious
death, strangled in the prison. Catherine reigned alone. She
was now thirty-four, the head of the largest, most unwieldy,
worst-organized realm in Europe, with the most corrupt
officials, the most debauched, immoral, and bloodthirsty Court
nobility. Everybody agrees that she was a great woman. She
made the Russian State work effectively; she gave it splendid
reaaown in Europe; she improved it in many ways. But she
only made worse the inner festering sore, the debauchery and
inimoraJity of the governing class, which ultimately—things
move slowfy in a great empire—brought it to ruin. Neverthe-
less, she was better than her neighbours. There was much
that is reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth about her. Catherine
was courageous, gay, serene. She worked hard, filled her day
the greatest exactitude, was temperate in eating, drank